Consuming English: How Mexican transmigrants form identities and construct symbolic citizenship through the English-language program Inglés sin Barreras [English without Barriers]

Inglés Sin Barreras is an English-language program that is highly advertised on Spanish-language television in the United States, to the point that it has become a pop-culture phenomenon. In this article, I argue that few people actually use it to learn English, but instead consume it as a symbol of national belonging. This article puts ideologies from the program itself into conversation with ethnographic data from migrants who have consumed the program. Inglés Sin Barreras is a commodity that mystifies inequitable power relations among stakeholders, and serves as a powerful symbol of the contradictions of national belonging for migrants. By synthesizing perspectives from both the program and its users, this article explores new linkages between theories of consumption and language ideology.